Banking in Japan

Opening an account used to require a hanko, a Japanese phone number and months of residency — none of that is really true anymore if you pick the right bank.

The account that used to be a rite of passage

Japanese banking has a well-earned reputation for being hostile to newcomers: megabanks like MUFG or Mizuho traditionally wanted six months or more of residence, a Japanese mobile number, and a registered hanko before they’d open a personal account. That friction hasn’t disappeared everywhere, but it has a workaround. Japan Post Bank (Yucho) remains the most reliably accessible first account — a Residence Card and your registered address are usually enough, opening deposits run as low as ¥1,000, and its network of 24,000+ ATMs inside every post office in the country makes it the default for cash-heavy daily life, even though English support at branches is limited.

The English-friendly alternatives

For a fully English experience, SBI Shinsei Bank offers an all-English platform and seven-day phone support with no minimum balance requirement, and is notably more flexible about remaining visa duration than the megabanks. Sony Bank is online-only with a clean English app and competitive foreign-exchange rates, useful if you’re still moving money from abroad. SMBC Prestia targets international professionals with a strong English service layer but expects a ¥500,000 minimum balance to waive its monthly fee.

Building credit from zero

Excellent credit history in your home country doesn’t transfer — Japan’s credit bureaus (CIC and JICC) start you at a blank slate. The fastest way to build a file is a Japanese-issued credit card with a low income bar, such as a Rakuten Card or a bank-affiliated card offered the moment you have a Residence Card and a bank account; use it for small recurring bills and pay it off in full every cycle. This matters more than it sounds — apartment guarantor companies and phone contracts increasingly check it.

Cash still wins in a lot of rooms

Japan’s government has pushed cashless payment hard, and adoption has climbed past 40% of transactions nationally, driven by IC cards (Suica, Pasmo) and QR pay apps (PayPay). But plenty of small izakayas, family-run restaurants, temples, local clinics and countryside shops remain cash-only. Carry ¥10,000–20,000 in cash as a standing rule, especially outside central Tokyo and Osaka.